Surge in TB cases

SOUTH Africa is witnessing an explosion in the number of cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis, according to Action TB, a research group funded by the British pharmaceuticals company Glaxo Wellcome.

The group says that the number of cases of multidrug-resistant TB in the KwaZulu-Natal region has risen by 300 per cent in just one year. "The extent of this increase is new and very worrying," says Ken Duncan, head of Action TB.

The researchers say that in some parts of South Africa, one in ten cases of TB is resistant to treatment.

The news came as the WHO announced that its latest strategy for treating TBgiving the patient a standard course of pills, but under the supervision of another adult to ensure compliancewas bearing fruit. However, the WHO's director-general, Hiroshi Nakajima, concedes that only one in ten patients worldwide receives this form of treatment.

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